LG Koo Kwang-mo Urges 'Sense of Urgency'... "Not a Choice but a Matter of Survival"

Sharing Former Chairman's Remarks to Urge Change
Criticizing "Declining Competitiveness Due to Inertia in Some Businesses"

Gu Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group, convened the first executive meeting of the year and urged a sense of 'urgency' to overcome the crisis. Emphasizing the 'selection and concentration' approach he has consistently advocated as his management principle, he stated, "It is a reality that we cannot excel in all businesses, so we must focus even more on selection and concentration."

On the 27th, to mark the 78th anniversary of the group's founding, Chairman Gu held an executive meeting of affiliate presidents at LG Inhwa-won in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, to discuss strategies to overcome the crisis in the management environment. About 30 top executives from major affiliates such as LG Electronics, LG Display, LG Chem, and LG Energy Solution attended the meeting.

Chairman Koo Kwang-mo of LG Group attending the executive workshop in September 2024.

According to LG Group, the management recognized that LG is facing a structural crisis in addition to the uncertain internal and external management environment and discussed strategic tasks to overcome it. They reached a consensus that the management should proactively materialize alternatives and lead substantial changes focusing not on 'what can be done' but on 'what must be done.'

In particular, Chairman Gu shared the 2017 New Year's address by the late Chairman Koo Bon-moo on the 70th anniversary of the founding, saying, "At that time, it was also a period when the economic order was being reorganized with the inauguration of the Trump administration, and it was said that the portfolio should be advanced through selection and concentration in areas where competitive advantage sustainability and performance creation were possible, requiring fundamental changes in business structure and business methods."

He continued, "Looking back on the changes so far, changes in the management environment have occurred much faster than expected, and there have been parts where changes in our business structure were not properly executed." He emphasized, "We must prioritize sustainable competitive advantage and building entry barriers, aligning capital investment and execution priorities accordingly, and the same applies to research and development (R&D), which is the source of future competition."

Chairman Gu urged the executive team to lead the direction of change the group should take.

He criticized, "In some businesses, focusing on quantitative growth and organizational survival logic led to a decline in competitiveness, and the expected portfolio advancement was not achieved. This has been the inertia until now." He added, "Let us shake off the mismatch between strategy and execution with a sense of urgency," stressing, "Change is not a matter of choice but something that must be done for survival."

Meanwhile, Hyun Shin-kyun, CEO of LG CNS, shared the AX (AI Transformation) cases that CNS has been promoting and discussed ways to accelerate AX at the executive meeting.

Meanwhile, LG Group operates executive meetings every quarter where affiliate presidents gather to share management issues. The purpose is to focus on discussing future strategies at the group level centered on the management team.